Sixteen states sue President Donald Trump over border wall emergency

New York is joining California and 14 other states in a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration.

Attorney General Letitia James said in the lawsuit Monday that diverting funding from military construction and other programs to pay for a wall on the US-Mexico border threatens New York's public safety and security infrastructure.

All the states involved in the lawsuit have Democratic attorneys general.

Trump declared an emergency on Friday so he can shift billions of dollars to the border wall after Congress wouldn't approve the amount he wanted.

Trump, a Republican, considers a wall a national security necessity. The lawsuit alleges he's manufacturing a crisis and that his declaration is an "unconstitutional and unlawful scheme." New York is home to Fort Drum and the US Military Academy.

-PTI